Christmas 2004: Lighting Through Shadows
by ajremix
Summary: X is for the Xenophile in all of us. It may not be Christmas, but even the feared race in the galaxy needs to take a moment to reassure themelves.


Lighting Through Shadows  
Invader Zim

Time holds no meaning in space. There are no seasons. Minutes, hours, months, centuries all mesh together and become a seamless, perpetual span of unchanged chaos. It means nothing to the stars, and the suns. To the comets that hurtle wherever they will, the meteors that drift in their belts. It means nothing to the moons and the planets they chase. It is the ones that live on those planets that catalogue the passage of time for the universe.

In one quadrant of the universe the Irken race slowly spread and overwhelmed, like a systematic epidemic- cold, cruel and indiscriminant. And at the heart of the space they conquered lies the tiny- in comparison to its neighboring planets and countless others they now controlled –home world of Irk.

The origins of the Irken race were lost with time and countless arguments rage at their creation. The small world was covered with machinery and all five of its moons housed the nurseries that cultivated and produced the fearless soldiers of the species.

In all logic, Irk was unable to support life. The atmosphere outside the towering domes was too thin to support most plant life, the planet itself at the outskirts of two solar systems. So small it was, and so far from the pull of both suns, that the planet could barely rotate on its own axis. If not for the machines that pumped air and the produced a gravity field inside the domes, the Irken race would never have survived.

There were only two seasons on the planet Irk. For half the year the world is bathed in constant light in a season known as Sedvan, named after a figure from a legend so old and so known that the name ceased to be synonymous with a person and known only as 'Bringer of Light'. During this time the planet becomes warm and- if the air were breathable –the land outside the domes would be livable.

The other half of the year is spent in darkness as the planet leaves one sun to circle around the other. At this time a portion of Irk spends one month in constant night, the next in constant light. This season had come to be known as the Alternate season.

But once every ten years there is a time when the other planets between Irk and one of its suns align together during the Alternate, a phenomenon called Minyu or 'Hole in the Sky'. And for the entire season Irk is cast in perpetual dark, thrown in the shadows as the other planets block the dim, weak light of the sun.

The Irken race is not known for their value of life or for needless wishes and hopes. But Minyu brings the Irken people closer together, struggling for survival in the frigid and constant dark, trying to keep themselves alive and sane for even their advanced technology suffers in the long periods of the harsh Irken cold.

That is why the only holiday or ceremony the Irkens have to honor life and each other is held halfway through Minyu. The ceremony- Kakat zil Lail'n, 'Lighting Through Shadows' –is a highest revered day, a day where each Irken, no matter their location, pauses to witness the proceedings. It is a ceremony so important to the entire race that every Tallest since recorded time has made it a point to return to Irk to lead the ceremony every ten years.

The streets of Irk's capitol city was packed as each Irken stood in unconsciously uniform rows, talking quietly with each other and reveling in the heat of bodies in the open air of the largest dome. The skies between platforms and transport tubes were lined with telecommunicators, broadcasting the ceremony to off-world Irkens in real time. The whole of conquered planets would be covered in the small stature Irkens as they peered up into the large view screens though the worlds they stood on would host an almost unbearable amount of heat and light that day. All the ships would be at the nearest docks and those on missions would sit in the heart of their base and wait and watch patiently.

On Irk, from opposite sides of the main stage, two platforms floated down with barely a whine. The crowd stopped their chatter and all looked on expectantly as their Tallests stepped onto the stage, bare ambient lighting around them as the planet's lights were dimmed. A hiss of hydraulics and a cylindrical table rose from the center of the stage. On it, a flared tube stuck out like an expectant funnel. Tallest Red, swathed in a rarely used but recognizable robe he and his counterpart hadn't worn since the last ceremony, stepped forward. The transition from anti-gravity belts awkward but pulled off with a grace inherent only through time.

"Children of Irk," he said clearly- though they could have simply lined the city with speakers, tradition spoke that the words be repeated to the back through word of mouth. Needless as it was, though, for everyone knew these words by heart. "Once more we gather in the darkness. Times passed, our predecessors had once done the same. In the dark they labored and in the dark they feared. Today, we gather for the moment we begin to crawl out of the darkness and, step by step, we walk back into the sun."

Some of the Irken had seen this ceremony done over a dozen times, but still they huddled together and clapped their hands in some semblance of prayer, catching their breaths in their throats. The solemnity of the occasion drastically changed the attitudes of many watching, and all saw the change of this ceremony in the faces of their Tallests. Gone were the lazy attitudes and careless laughter. Now stood before the entire race the leaders that were as proud and strong and capable as those of the past.

Purple, less used to public speaking but no less able, stepped forward as well. "We honor this day as we do no other. Each day we live to fight and conquer, but this day we live to survive. We honor those that brought us to where we are, who made us to be who we are. We honor those that pass these empty days for the first time, those who honor this day from afar, and those we have lost since the last."

"The children of Irk are strong." Red continued. "Our strength is shown through each battle fought and won, through each world and race conquered. But our strength is proven through each time we persevere against Minyu. We are a race that will never be beaten and the fact that we are all here, now, together, is proof."

"Though we are strong enough to stand on our own, individually, we know and understand that this moment, and all moments of hardship afterwards are won because we have the strength of our people behind us." A sidestep took Purple next to the table. "It is together that we can survive against the dark. And it is together that we will survive against the universe." From the sleeve of his robe, Purple brought forth a faceted crystal. Bereft of armor, the thin bones of his hand and fingers seemed barely existent in the dark. Holding the crystal out he said to the crowd, "Today we step forward into the light." He placed the crystal upright in the funnel and took a step to the side.

Red stepped to the table and from his sleeve produced a convex glass disc. "Today we leave behind the dark and fear." He held the disc a few inches above the tip of the crystal until the anti-gravity mods began to hum then he too stepped aside.

As both of the Tallests came behind the table the expectant silence from the crowd at their feet and those of planets light years away became a vacuum. "Today," they said together, hands almost touching the activation pad on the table, "we strive onward, moment by moment. And each moment we shall strive, it will be together."

Hands pressed against the pad, the crystal suddenly flared and a beam of light shot into the glass, broken up and bounced out into the sky above the crowd. Among the lacework of technology hung more plates of precisely cut glass and as each caught a ray of light, they passed it on to the next and next until the dome was alive with a spider web of light.

"Each glass that is lit up is a day we spend in the darkness." Said Red as the Irkens gaped at the crossing lights. "As each day passes a light will cease to shine."

"Until the day that Irk comes into the sun once more, every Irken on every planet will continue to shine their lights into the sky. For we are all children of Irk and we will never fall." As Purple finished his words the solemn air lifted from the crowd and as they cheered and talked and began to move about. Purple pumped a fist into the air. "Now let's party!" The two Tallests hooted and music and light switched into sudden, high gear.

"Where are you going?" Gaz didn't ask because she was worried or because she wanted to know. She asked because if their father managed to call up today, he'd want to know where Dib went to.

"Zim wasn't at school today." Dib said, half running, half walking out of Skool. "I want to know why."

"Maybe he just wasn't feeling well today. Ever thought of that?"

"Hah! Maybe the human germs have finally caught up with him and forced him into submission!" Scenario in mind, Dib doubled his pace. Gaz considered following for a moment but decided she had better things to do. Like replaying to final boss of Pig Hunter 2. That decided, she left her brother to work out his crazy delusions solo.

Not even recognizing that he had yet again been dismissed as insane, Dib raced to the cul-de-sac, debating on actually sneaking into Zim's base or of setting up watch somewhere. Even if Zim's neighbors were begin to threaten on calling the police, Dib figured he could deal with a little law if it meant the continued existence of the human race.

As he came to Zim's yard, though, the door opened and out came the subject of constant frustrations himself. Dib skidded to a halt on the sidewalk and Zim merely paused as he noticed the human boy. Apparently, however, he had something more pressing at the moment as he forewent going into a high decibel rant and merely ignored the boy. Dib, curious and confused, leaned just barely over the fence (not enough to attract the gnomes' attention).

Zim knelt at the area just to the right of his front door and put the strange objects he was carrying on the ground. He dug a small hole into the lawn and half buried a palm-sized cube in there. He then placed a crystal height-wise on the box and pressed a small, hidden button and the box and crystal emitted a thin beam of bright, white light that caused Dib to jerk his head away.

Blinking the spots from his eyes, Dib looked back to see Zim starring up at the pillar, mouthing some strange, alien speech. Then, without a glance toward Dib, Zim went back inside his base, letting his light join the countless others in the black velvet of space.


End file.
